INDIANAPOLIS -- Colts coach Chuck Pagano said he isn't letting the uncertainty of his job status weigh him down, despite it being the third straight year that he'll head into the offseason not knowing his future.
"You know what you got into," Pagano said Monday. "That's all I've known forever. The shelf life for these jobs isn't long. You embrace every single opportunity, every single day, every single game to get to go to practice with these guys and grind, work and compete and play games. So it's a blessing. You can't sit there and poo-poo and worry. I'm good. I'm good."
Colts owner Jim Irsay gave Pagano a four-year contract and extended former general manager Ryan Grigson's contract in January 2016. Grigson was fired last January, and Irsay would only go as far as to say that Pagano would be his coach for this season. New Colts general manager Chris Ballard has spent the entire season evaluating the entire roster and coaching staff.
The Colts were officially eliminated from making the playoffs for third straight season after their 13-7 overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. The three-year drought is a drastic change from Pagano's first three years as coach, when the Colts reached the playoffs in each of those seasons, including making the AFC Championship Game in 2014 and enjoying back-to-back undefeated seasons in the AFC South in 2013 and 2014.
The Colts are 19-26 since their last playoff appearance. Pagano is the eighth-longest tenured coach in the NFL.
"Grandfather of the [AFC] South," he joked.
Part of the reason that the Colts have struggled in recent years is because of the absence of quarterback Andrew Luck. Luck, who will have missed 26 games since 2015 by the end of this season, routinely covered up so many of the team's flaws during his first three seasons.
Luck, as ESPN reported in November, has been in Europe trying to find ways to stop the soreness in his shoulder, which he had surgery on in January.
"He's doing fine, communicating via email and text, making progress," Pagano said. "I think everybody knows he's in Europe somewhere getting some great treatment. He's communicating with our docs and our trainers. They're all communicating together."